“Cleebo is the best way to clear solid/semi-solid mucus in children, in a safe, hygienic and easy-to-use product.”

Confirmed by 80% of the 23 independent medical professionals surveyed.

Bogies, Boogers, Nose Goblins, Nasal Mucus (for the more sophisticated amongst us!), or whatever you want to call them, are an all too common problem for the parent and child alike, for reasons we know all too well. Nobody wants to talk about them, but they’re there, and once spotted, we get compelled to keep digging until the job is done or until the kid escapes.

As recommended by Dr Sarah Brewer
(Daily Mail 29th Jun 2010 / Prima Magazine Oct 2010).

Background Information

Cleebo has been developed by Opus Innovations Limited in consultation with a Paediatrician / GP as an innovative safe solution for removing dried nasal mucus (Bogies!) from the noses of children and incapacitated adults.

Cleebo’s main objectives focussed on: safety, hygiene, robustness, user-friendliness, child-friendliness, and ultimately effectiveness. Cleebo is essentially a pair of uniquely shaped ABS plastic tweezers with inter-changeable Medical Grade Silicone end tips. The end tips come in 5 different vibrant colours to encourage the child’s participation and co-operation. The ends also include many safety features including: depth limiting design with end tabs to prevent excessive insertion, an absence of any sharp ends, tight fit to tweezers to prevent them coming loose, and they are made from silicone which is a relatively soft material.

The inspiration to develop Cleebo came about in 2006 when myself and my wife were faced with the issue of trying to unblock our 4 month old daughter’s nose of dried / semi-solid mucus. The squeezable bulb was ineffective, cotton buds were too large and would have pushed it further up, and saline drops did not comfortably work. We were forced with no other option but to improvise, and we ended up very carefully using metal tweezers to solve the problem. As there are no safe and effective options on the market today for removing dried nasal mucus, parents are resorting to options such as: finger nails, cotton buds, metal tweezers, paper clips, pencils, twisted tissue, hair pins, pliers (only kidding!) – you name it!!! Most of these options are generally ineffective, unsafe, unhygienic and not child-friendly. We researched the market and found nothing suitable, spoke to other parents who confirmed they had the same issue, and basically set about to provide a safe solution to a long standing issue.

The Official Launch

We launched Cleebo at the 2009 London Baby Show at Earls Court, and over the 3 days sold it at an average rate of 1 every 3 minutes. On the final day of the show, this increased to 1 every 2 minutes, and 2 of our customers were pregnant GPs who very much related to the problem. The feedback from delighted customers and the rate of sale confirmed that there was certainly the demand (and need) for a product such as Cleebo.

What was extremely pleasing to see at the Show was the excitement on parent’s faces and gratitude towards us when they realized what we were selling, as most confessed that they had often used unsafe methods to clear their kid’s noses of dried mucus in the absence of nothing safe and effective for sale on the market. A number of parents also admitted that they had scraped or cut the inside of their kids noses whilst trying to remove dried mucus with finger nails and other sharp devices, and many commented that cotton buds / Q-tips were quite ineffective and dangerous due to cotton fibres coming loose and the ability to push it too far up.

Product Differentator

Options are available on the market for runny nasal mucus (aspirators, suction pumps etc.), which parents find useful to a reasonable extent, but they are often intimidating for the child. These products are of no use for dried nasal mucus. What is extremely unique about this product is that it focuses on the aspect of dried nasal mucus that has been left to parents own devices. This product is a very safe child-friendly and user-friendly way to easily and quickly remove dried mucus with no fuss. It can be easily cleaned with hot soapy water and cold sterilized if required, however as it is made of plastic, do not place in boiling water or put in the microwave / dishwasher as the plastic will distort.

Using Cleebo

Please note that the tweezers (and the tip receiving ends to a lesser extent) are made of ABS plastic and are extremely flexible, which means they can be carefully manipulated as required. Before use, please pull the tweezers apart by about 5-7cm so that the tips are about 2cm apart when released. This will then provide the necessary tension and spring in the tweezers to enable them to pinch effectively. The tips can also be tilted as necessary to ensure the ends are touching efficiently.

Cleebo can be used in 3 ways:

Option 1: Use as conventional tweezers

Option 2: Close both tips together & use with a dragging action, similar to using a cotton bud

Option 3: Pull tweezers wide apart and use one side only as noted in ‘Option 2’ above. This method is effective for tiny nostrils. Should the tweezer tips remain too far apart, pinch the tweezers immediately above the ‘circle’ between the thumb and the forefinger and squeeze to reduce the gap as required.

Caution: As the tweezers are plastic, repeated use of the method described in Option 3 will result in the tweezers weakening and breaking at some point in time.